Sunday, February 17, 2008

In my class on Worship at Toronto Baptist Seminary, I asked my students to identify five ways they are a hindrance to the Corporate Worship of God. Their lists were very interesting and I assembled a bit of a highlight reel here. I think it is a great question to ask yourself before next Sunday – how do I hinder the worship of God at my church? Here are some of the items my guys came up with...

Not even thinking about how God desires to be worshiped

Sin in my life

Not showing up at all

Being grumpy

Not arriving grateful for the cross

Not praying in advance

Being tired or lazy

Taking pride in my contributions to the service

Distracted by the details and running of the service

Showing up late

Processing other things than what is happening in the service

Worrying about what my kids are doing

Looking for a pen and writing a cheque

Not fixing relational problems with others in the church

Thinking more about the process of worship than the One I am to worship

Roaming mind

Pride in thinking I could do better than what the person up front is doing

Not going to bed early enough on Saturday night

Watching car races [insert your program of choice here] so that a) I am late for services and b) my mind is dwelling on them not the Lord

Not worshiping God through the week

Not paying attention to what I sing or say in worship

Worrying about what I wore

Wanting the service to be perfect and growing discontent with mistakes

Being more excited about friends than God

Timing the pastors prayers

Viewing the singing as a time of entertainment

Trying to get friends to laugh by distracting them in immature ways

Enjoying the melody of a song more than delighting in God

Pride of thinking I could play a certain instrument better

Criticizing every little aspect of the service in my mind

Pride of thinking God must be impressed with the way I am worshiping!

Doing outward things in order to gain others’ attention

Sitting with people I know will lead me to talk and not pay attention

Thinking about the problems of my week rather than on the worship of God

Catalyst: Covers both church leadership issues and cultural issues through interviewing Christian leaders, authors, pastors, etc. I really enjoy the Catalyst podcast, though I find myself skipping the first several minutes of pre-interview conversation about Catalyst Conference stuff and other random bits. The interview is the meat, and it's consistently thoughtful and engaging.

Church Leader Insights: Pastors Nelson Searcy and Kerrick Thomas of The Journey Church in NYC talking together about church leadership, church growth, church planting, systems, evangelism, etc. A lot of info of what has and hasn't worked for them. I always come away with insights for pastoring and ministry, even if you don't approach ministry in quite the same way as these guys.

Covenant Worldwide: At least 15 free seminary classes are available on the topics of biblical theology, OT and NT, apologetics and outreach, the Reformation, life and letters of Paul, and more. What the heck are you waiting for?

Fermi Project: Discussions with leaders on culture, the future, the Church and the Gospel. It's hosted by Catalyst guys Gabe Lyons and Andy Crouch. It's only on episode three, but I've enjoyed it tremendously so far. A great, concise podcast.
Internet Monk Radio: Michael Spencer's thoughts on theology, ministry, his critics, yadda. The worst aspect of this podcast is his love affair for the Cincinnati Reds. Yuck. But if you can get past that, Spencer can often deliver thoughtful insights on a variety of issues. Warning: If you don't know Spencer and his online writings, some of this won't make much sense. It's for the devoted.

National New Church Conference: Interviews with conference speakers dealing with church and church planting. Have learned a lot from this podcast and highly recommend it for church leaders.

Practically Speaking: North Point boys (Andy Stanley, et al) on the Seven Practices of Effective Ministry. It's a "dead" podcast in that there are no new episodes, but their seven podcasts I have found very helpful as a pastor. I've listened to them more than once, and will listen again.

Resurgence: Mark Driscoll's missional resource that includes talks from various conferences and lectures pertaining to ministry and theology. Lots of good stuff here.

Preaching

Capitol Hill Baptist: Pastor Mark Dever is one of the most important living Southern Baptist pastors/preachers, and a pastor who I have had a chance to talk with a bit. He has seen a remarkable change over the years of his church in D.C. Dever is obsessively expository in his approach. If you want to know the Bible, this is a great way to digest it. Dever is also well known for tackling very large sections of text, including single sermons on entire books of the Bible.

Cornerstone Simi: Pastor Francis Chan is fairly new on my radar, but I have enjoyed what I have heard so far.

The Journey - St. Louis: Pastor Darrin Patrick is a friend and has seen some great things happen after planting in St. Louis. A good preacher, and a young leader worth watching.

Mars Hill Church, Grand Rapids: Pastor Rob Bell is a controversial writer and speaker in the emerging church movement. I find him very engaging and biblical, though we would surely differ at points. He challenges me with living the Gospel.

Mars Hill Church, Seattle: Pastor Mark Driscoll is a different sort of controversial writer and speaker in the emerging church movement. He has been very influential in my ministry and life.

Village Church: Pastor Matt Chandler is SBC, Acts 29, and one of the best young preachers I've heard. Probably my favorite younger preacher to listen to over the last few months. Some people trip over a few of his stylistic traits at first, but please persist and you will find so much worth hearing.

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You scored as Anselm, Anselm is the outstanding theologian of the medieval period.He sees man's primary problem as having failed to render unto God what we owe him, so God becomes man in Christ and gives God what he is due. You should read 'Cur Deus Homo?'

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Unless otherwise indicated, all scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, copyright 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.